Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
music journalist
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
.
Life and career
Chuck Eddy was born in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. After starting his journalism career with ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' and ''
Creem
''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential criti ...
'', where he published one of the first national interviews with the
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...
in the mid-1980s, Eddy then wrote for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'', ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' and other national and local publications. He has authored four books: ''Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe'', ''The Accidental Evolution of Rock and Roll'', ''Rock and Roll Always Forgets: A Quarter Century of Music Criticism'', and ''Terminated for Reasons of Taste: Other Ways to Hear Essential and Inessential Music''.
In 1999 he was hired as the music editor at ''The Village Voice'', where he served for seven years. After being terminated on grounds of "taste" upon Village Voice Media's merger with
New Times in 2006,
"'Voice' in the Wilderness: Chuck Eddy Says Farewell"
, April 20, 2006. he briefly wrote a thrice-weekly heavy metal blog for MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's URGE and a monthly page of capsule CD reviews in ''Harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
'' called "The Last Roundup". From 2006 to 2007, he worked as a senior editor for ''Billboard'' magazine. Eddy currently freelances from Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
.
He has published book chapters in several anthologies, including ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll'' (Random House, 1992); ''Spin Alternative Record Guide
The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' is a music reference book compiled by the American music magazine '' Spin'' and published in 1995 by Vintage Books. It was edited by rock critic Eric Weisbard and Craig Marks, who was the magazine's editor-i ...
'' (Vintage, 1995); ''Stars Don’t Stand Still in the Sky: Music And Myth'' (NYU Press, 1999); ''Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth'' (Feral House, 2001); ''Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll Magazine'' (Collins, 2007); and ''1000 Songs To Change Your Life'' (Time Out, 2008.)
References
External links
Eliminated for Reasons of Space: Chuck Eddy's blog
Chuck It All In: Rhapsody blog
Singles Again: Blurt blog
Harp reviews
Spin reviews
Singles Jukebox reviews
Rolling Stone Songs of the Day
Podcast on Rolling Stone record guides, Part 1
Selected articles
Michael Jackson essay, 1991
* ttp://rockcriticsarchives.com/interviews/chuckeddy2002/01.html Chuck E...So Addictive, By Steven Ward
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eddy, Chuck
American music journalists
Living people
1960 births
Writers from Detroit
American male journalists
Journalists from Michigan
The Village Voice people
Rolling Stone people